


MC AU oneshots

by Catheeso



Category: CJMind, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: :), Gen, I lied, remember when i said i wouldnt be writing for this au?, yeah - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:35:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27885361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catheeso/pseuds/Catheeso
Summary: oneshots i wrote because i was bored at home and i didnt allow myself to write CoD
Relationships: None





	1. we get spooked by a cat

Carter woke up to rustling bushes. He drowsily sat up before jolting off of the tree branch he was sleeping on and quickly grabbing Ben’s bow and an arrow. He shifted in front of Ben and slid his mask down, his gloves still on from the night before when he was too tired to take them off.

“Wha?” Riley slurred, pushing themself up on their elbows to stare at Carter. Ben mimicked them. “What's going on?”

“Someone’s coming,” he snapped back. Riley cursed under their breath and hopped up, grabbing their trident and also moving to shield Ben. Ben dutifully hid his face under his blanket. 

Carter gripped the bow and arrow tighter, narrowing his eyes in the direction of the noise. They had just arrived at this server, their portal from the old one collapsing, so all three of them were on edge. Would the people here have the same laws against hybrids as their old server? If so, they would be in trouble, especially if that desolate ruin of a portal they stumbled across was supposed to be the main portal. 

He knew, logically, that since it was a different server, the people who lived here would be different from the people on their old server. The three of them could feel how the world was different. This world wasn’t hardcore, for one, and it seemed blank. Like it was new. Like no one had ever lived here. 

So, they traveled. They walked and walked and walked, trying to find some civilization. Even people who didn’t like hybrids would be welcome just so they know that people lived in this world. Carter had already lost hope, but Riley and Ben clung on. They had always had other people, other humans, while he had nothing. He didn’t know how to be dependent on humans. His mom was dead and that was the only living thing in the hardcore world that he cared about besides Riley and Ben. No one else mattered to him. No humans mattered to him. The prospect of living in a town wasn’t one he particularly wanted or even entertained. 

Riley seemed most desperate for more companionship, always talking about their older sibling and mom. Ben didn’t care as much as they did, but he still talked about his own family and, even more so, Riley’s family. They had the benefit of knowing each other long before the idea of leaving had even sprung into their minds. They didn’t meet him until they were halfway out the Nether. 

Carter didn’t care much. If someone else were to join him, he’d take it with grace besides some grumbling. He knew how much humans and even hybrids loved having friends. He was fine with just Riley and Ben, but they wanted more. Secretly, he wanted it to stay the same. He liked their little circle. It was all he needed. But he would never complain to their faces if they wanted someone else to join their group. 

The bushes rustled again before something jumped out of them. He lowered the bow in confusion. It was just a cat. 

“Aw!” Riley immediately cooed, setting their trident down and walking over to the black and white cat. “Look at him!”

“That’s a cat, alright,” said Carter awkwardly as Ben pushed himself up. The magma cube hybrid took his bow from Carter’s hands and crouched down next to Bre, looking at the cat curiously. 

It meowed loudly as Riley scooped it up before settling down and purring. It was almost like it was already domesticated. Which was weird unless there was a village nearby. A village nearby!

“Guys, we should be careful,” he warned. “There might be a village nearby.”

“What? Why?” Ben asked.

“That cat looks like it's already been domesticated.” 

Both Riley and Ben inspected the cat closer. 

“It doesn’t have a collar,” Riley said. 

“Although, it wouldn’t be bad to be careful,” Ben agreed. “A lot of village cats tend not to have collars.”

“That’s right. We shouldn’t get attached,” Carter nodded. 

Riley picked the cat up and held it close to their chest. “Too late, I’ve already named him. The mystery village can pry this cat from my cold, dead hands. His name is Oreo.”

“Oreo?” Carter shot them a funny look. “What kind of name is that?”

“An exotic one.”

Ben snickered as Carter huffed. “Look, let’s just go, okay? I’m uncomfortable with how close to a town we might be,” he said, gathering his knapsack full of supplies and his sword that rested on the trunk of a tree. He quickly put the sword in its sheath that was attached to his hip. 

“And we’re taking Oreo with us,” Riley added. They reached into their own bag and grabbed a red bandana they had stolen from a village back in their old hardcore world. They wrapped it around Oreo’s neck, who leaned into their touch. 

“Maybe Oreo just likes them because they’re warm,” Ben whispered to him. “That’s probably, like, the only reason.”

Carter couldn’t suppress a small giggle at that. Riley shot them both a glare.

“Maybe we should try and find the village. We are low on supplies,” said Ben. “And maybe return Oreo to his owner.”

“No. Absolutely not,” Carter hissed. “I am not about to be thrown into another dungeon.”

The two childhood friends flinched at that. King Gabryell’s castle was still a touchy subject even though it had been months since they were imprisoned. Sometimes, when it was cold, all Carter could remember was the cell he was thrown into and how cold and small it was. How trapped he felt.

He never wants to feel like that again. 

“Okay…” Riley trailed off. “How about we go off the trail? If we hurry we might make it to the peak of that mountain we saw earlier.”

Carter glanced to the sky and saw it still dark. Right. It was late. Actually, more like it was really, really early. “ _I could just teleport_ ,” he warbled to himself. 

“Stop humming and walk with us,” Ben called back. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and teleported over to them, walking alongside them. Oreo meowed in Riley’s arms. Carter glared suspiciously at the demon cat. 

Oreo didn’t seem to care much. 

And when they eventually stumble upon a ruined and clearly abandoned village, they figure out where Oreo came from and why there were no other people on the server. 

No one else had been on the server for hundreds of years. 

They were alone.


	2. i tried to shove sequiera into this au somehow

Carter still wasn’t used to waking up in the overworld. Whenever he would wake up, he would expect to feel distant heat that just barely made it to his forest. Whenever he would wake up, he would expect to see the red roof of netherrack overhead. Waking up in the overworld wasn’t like that. It could be frosty in the morning or hot and he always woke up to the sky or a canopy of green leaves. It was a new experience. 

He preferred sleeping in the trees despite Riley and Ben’s protests. Apparently the grass is very soft but prickly to sleep on. He wouldn’t know because it was more comforting to sleep on a branch of a large tree than down on the ground. After all, it’s how he slept in the Nether, always on that really long branch of his favourite tree. 

Blinking slowly, he teleported off the tree and near the base of its trunk, listening to his friend’s snores. Were they his friends? He had never had friends before besides that one hoglin that visited occasionally. The hoglin probably didn’t consider him a friend seeing as it would attack him, but he would giggle anyways because it was tiny. 

Riley and Ben seemed to be his friends from what they described friends being. He had to trust them on that. He also had to trust that they knew what he meant when he said anything, because trying to talk human was like trying to climb the side of a Nether fortress. It was hard. He also couldn’t tell if they were messing with him and considering that they’ve shown themselves to be mischievous, it didn’t strengthen his trust in them teaching him the correct words. 

Carter looked up towards the sky. The clouds were a soft shade of pink, a colour he didn’t know was real until he saw a sunrise for the first time. At least, he thinks it's pink. That’s what Riley told him it was. 

He reached up and pulled his demon mask on, walking away from the makeshift camp they had made. It wasn’t a good camp by any means, but he supposed it worked for both of them. 

The mobs in the forest that spawned at night didn’t really care about them, mostly passing by without a fight. The mobs were a lot more suspicious of Riley than him or Ben, but that’s probably because they could smell the mob on them but all they saw was human. A couple mobs had gone out of their way to attack them, but he quickly shut them down as the fighter of the group. And also the resident mob communicator as he was the only one able to speak the mobs’ language. Funny how he could talk to the monsters that roamed at night but couldn’t talk to the half-humans he was traveling with. 

He knew he was half-human, too. His mother had told him as much. But he found it hard to believe he wasn’t as enderman as she was, that he was half of a person he had never met. Carter hated his “father”, he didn’t wanna be half-human if that was what humans were like.

Riley and Ben were different, but that was because they were half-mob like him. They understood. Well, not really. Both of them were raised by their human parents and from what he understood, their parents were actually really nice. 

Maybe he just had a really bad dad? When he asked Riley about it (as well as he could, mostly with vague gestures), they had vowed to fight his dad if they ever met him. He nodded in a silent okay. Ben told Riley that they were not allowed to get into a fist-fight with Carter’s dad, but they were allowed to stab him with their trident. Riley had grumbled in response. 

Carter eventually made it to the lake the three of them had spotted earlier and sat down, careful not to disturb the fish. His mask gave him some sense of safety in case anyone saw him, but he had forgotten to take his gloves. If anyone saw his hands, he was probably screwed. 

Hybrids were illegal, after all. 

He sat silently, admiring the water. The reflection of the sunrise was beautiful in his opinion. He had never seen anything like it before. The Warped Forest he lived in was dark blue and purple with some dark green, nothing like the bright colours in the sky. 

He picked up a particularly smooth stone and threw it. The stone skidded across the water for just one hop before sinking. He watched it curiously, not expecting that to happen. 

“You threw it wrong,” someone said, their footsteps sounding behind him. He jumped and quickly hid his hands, looking up at the person’s chin. He kept his mouth shut and ducked his head as she sat next to him. 

“Can you talk?” she asked curiously. He swallowed and shook his head, taking the convenient out she made. 

“Oh, sorry ‘bout that,” she apologized sheepishly, laughing a bit. “I’m Sequiera by the way.” 

Carter tried to smile at her but quickly realized that she wouldn’t be able to see it from behind his mask. He nodded instead.

“Can you tell me your name? Like- without talking?”

He thought for a moment before moving some stones out of the way and tracing his nickname that Bre had given him into the brown sand. 

“CJ?” Sequiera read. She squinted like she was trying to figure out a puzzle. “Isn’t that a nickname?”

He giggled softly and she soon joined him like they were sharing a secret. She was human, he could tell. Full human. She had the uniquely human scent he had only smelled back at the first village they had gone to. 

...Right before they were attacked. 

Suspicion swirled in his stomach as he inched away from her. Sequiera was a human, even if she did seem nice. The girl frowned slightly as he moved away, turning her attention back to the lake. 

She picked up a smooth stone and stood up. “Here, I’ll show you how to skip stones.”

He tilted his head as she wound her arm back and flicked her wrist, sending the small pebble hopping along the water. It sank after six hops. He looked back at her chin, suitably impressed, to see her smiling proudly. He reached up and tapped on her arm repeatedly. She froze.

Her eyes were looking at his hand. His ungloved hand. His ungloved, black hand. There was no mistaking the black for anything else other than the skin colour of an enderman. His heart dropped. 

He lowered his gaze down to her nose as she glanced between his mask and his hand. 

“You can talk, can’t you?” she eventually whispered, drawing back. He slumped and nodded. 

Sequiera sat back down and stared at him for a long while as he resisted the urge to squirm uncomfortably. Would she scream for help? Would she run away? Would she attack him?

She hummed and picked up a stone before handing it to him. “You try,” she said. 

“R-really?” he asked, the word thick and foreign on his tongue. The human winced but smiled weakly, gesturing to the lake.

“Yeah, sure. I didn’t show you how for nothing.”

Carter stood up and copied her movements. The stone skidded across the lake, sinking after only two hops.

“You did it wrong,” Sequeira said, moving up next to him. “You gotta flick your wrist more, y’know?”

He did not know but nodded anyways. He seemed to be doing a lot of that, nodding. It was really the only thing he could do without speaking. When he tried again, flicking his wrist more this time, it went four hops. 

“ _Yes!_ ” he cheered. Sequiera startled and flinched back at his sudden noise, which probably sounded garbled and distinctly inhuman to her. He stopped and shuffled away, feeling ashamed. He should’ve known better. How would she react?

She coughed awkwardly before laughing, bright and happy. “It’s okay! I’m glad to see you excited. That was good.”

“ _It was?_ ”

Sequiera opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by an arrow that was shot between them. They both jerked back this time, surprised, and turned to face the direction it came from. Riley and Ben were standing there with their weapons out, expressions blank. He could see the barely hidden worry in Riley’s eyes, though. He looked away before they could make eye contact. 

“Who are you?” Ben demanded, stalking closer with his bow loaded. Sequiera paled and raised her hands in surrender. 

“I-I’m just a villager. I-I was just, um, playing with my, uh, friend.” She stepped in front of him. Oh, he thought, she didn’t know they were his friends. “We’ll leave now, okay? No need to shoot us.”

“Step away from him,” ordered Riley, holding their trident so tight he thought they might break it. 

“What?”

“Step away from him and scamper back to your village,” the blaze hybrid repeated, moving forward threateningly. 

“ _Guys, it’s fine! She’s nice!_ ” he protested. His desperate tone only served to make his friends more on edge. 

“I’m not leaving you guys to kill him.” Sequiera sounded offended. Huh, that was new. “You don’t have to hurt him!”

“Wait, you think we’re gonna hurt him?” Riley asked, looking slightly confused.

“He’s our friend,” growled Ben, his arrow pointed directly at Sequiera’s face. “Sorry for trying to protect him from a wayward human.”

“You two know him?” Sequiera repeated incredulously. 

“Yeah, do you?” Riley shot back. 

“ _GUYS!_ ” he shouted, effectively cutting everyone off. 

He huffed and glared at Riley’s shoes. “Nice,” he tried to explain. “ _She is_ nice.”

Riley and Ben glanced at each other before they finally figured out what he was trying to say. 

“She’s nice?” Ben guessed, lowering his bow. When Carter gave a tired thumbs up, Ben sighed and put away his bow entirely, Riley doing the same with their trident. Sequiera visibly relaxed. 

“So, you’re not trying to kidnap him?” Riley asked slowly. 

“N-no?” Sequiera replied. 

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

There was a tense silence. 

“I think we got off on the wrong foot,” Ben said awkwardly. “I’m Ben, this is Riley. We’re Carter’s friends.”

“We got worried when we saw him with a human,” Riley explained.

“That makes sense, I guess,” Sequiera replied. “Hybrids gotta stick together, right?”

Ben tensed up. “Are you gonna tell anyone we were here?”

“No? That would be a death sentence for all three of you.” 

“Good.”

The silence returned. 

“We should leave,” Riley said, taking Carter by the hood of his cloak and dragging him over to them. “Before we get caught here.”

“That makes sense. Um, good luck? Bye, CJ.” Sequiera waved and walked away, back up the hill she came from towards the houses in the far distance. 

He found himself watching curiously. When he turned back to his friends, both of them raised an eyebrow.

“CJ’s got a friend!” Ben immediately teased, poking at Carter. The enderman hybrid spluttered and teleported away, lifting up his mask and glaring at his friend. Riley laughed. 

Carter looked back at the village as they left the clearing by the lake. Maybe one day when this was all over he could return. That’d be nice. 


	3. respawn, reset

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hehe lore time :)

Carter swung his legs as he sat on the roof of their dirt hut, watching the sun lower itself over the horizon casting a yellow and pink glow on everything. Riley and Ben were inside trying to strengthen the walls of the hut in preparation for nightime. Carter simply hummed to himself and sharpened the sword that laid in his lap with a piece of stone. 

They didn’t have an actual house yet, Riley claiming that there weren’t enough materials to build one in this area and not enough space, but they did need somewhere to sleep during the night. He would’ve just slept up in a tree normally but the spiders were extra vicious lately and being spun up and eaten was not a way he wanted to go. At least, not tonight. 

The trees around weren’t even good for sleeping in, anyway, the wood cracked and dead. Some of the branches would probably crumble under his weight and the ones that didn’t wouldn’t support him the entire night, especially if something else, like a spider, tried to climb up it. A strong gust of wind looked like it could topple the healthiest ones over. 

Not that he wanted to sleep tonight anyways. A lot of mobs were gonna spawn tonight. He could practically taste it in the air. His friends could, too, which was why they were quickly setting up for disaster. Not that they needed to. 

He was going mob slaying tonight. 

Riley and Ben always worried though, not reassured by even the rules of the world they were in. They had been the ones to hear horror stories about dying, they had been the ones petrified of the blades swung by other players. And now, here, they were the ones scared of the suddenly hostile skeletons and zombies that had been peaceful in their old world. 

“We won’t move your bed,” Riley had told him. “Just in case.”

He had wanted to tell them that he would be fine. He knew what he was doing. He knew how to fight. But he kept his mouth shut, just to reassure them. It wasn’t like he was going to try and die, but it _was_ nice to know that there was a back-up plan in case things went south. 

He had never respawned before and he really didn’t want to, but knowing that death wouldn’t be permanent is comforting. In a weird sort of way. He vaguely wonders if it's painful. Seems like it would be. 

An arrow snapped Carter out of his thoughts. It had hit right next to him and when he looked over, a skeleton had it’s bow aimed at him and was pulling back another arrow. He grinned to himself and pulled down his demon mask. It was showtime. 

  
  


He was the fighter of the group. He was the one to defend everybody in times of need or during the pitch black darkness of night. Back in the hardcore world, when soldiers or even townsfolk found their camps, he would be the one to stay behind and fight, to try and throw them off their trail while Riley and Ben escaped. It had always been something he was good at. 

It wasn’t like Riley or Ben were bad at fighting. Riley was fearsome with their trident and Ben had deadly accuracy when it came to his bow and arrow, but they preferred to stay back. They had other hobbies than getting into fights with anything that moves. 

Riley was the builder. Their builds weren’t the best in the entire universe, but it was something they enjoyed doing and preferred over fighting. 

Ben was the miner. He wasn’t the best miner in the entire universe, but it was something he enjoyed doing and preferred over fighting.

Carter was the fighter. He was the one who snuck out at night to find the drowned hanging out in the lake nearby or the phantoms that soared through the sky. He faced the mobs with his trusty diamond sword and sometimes his staff, fighting until either he couldn’t anymore or until the sun came up. Mostly the latter. 

Although, sometimes, it was the first. 

  
  


His mother used to tell him a story. It went like this:

There was once an enderman who lived with her family in a forest. One day, humans came trampling through, slaying her brothers and sisters and capturing her cousins. She had fought back as mostly everyone escaped, but she was captured. She was the only one taken from the forest. And when she eventually returned, it was empty and she was alone.

His mother said that the enderman had gotten too curious, too confident. That her own pride had gotten her captured and it was her fault. That she shouldn’t have tested her luck like that.

He always thought that story was stupid. Their entire existence, with the presence of humans in the Nether, was testing their luck. And when he left his forest to the overworld, all the fights against the enemy were a test of his luck. How long could he go before he was taken just like the enderman in the story?

(He always knew that the enderman in the story was his mother. He could see it in the emotion in her eyes and the way she warbled, but he never said anything.)

Maybe he should’ve listened to his mother. Maybe he shouldn’t have tested his luck so much. He had always been lucky, but there was a point where his luck would run out.

And, unfortunately, that point was tonight.

  
  


Carter stumbled back as a sword was driven through his stomach, the zombie responsible looking at him with blank, dead eyes. It wasn’t a normal zombie that spawned, no, it had spawned with an enchanted golden helmet and a golden sword. It had swung at him, mindless, like the movements were practiced. 

It was common knowledge in all the worlds that zombies were what happened when you died a violent, non-respawn death. Getting killed by another human was the most common way they were created, although sometimes it was from mobs like the Wither or a particularly gruesome death from a hoglin. 

This used to be a human. Maybe a knight with how good at fighting with a sword it was. It knew what it was doing, even if it couldn’t think clearly. And maybe that was his downfall. Scratch that, it was definitely his downfall. 

Fire seared through his veins as the sword was taken out and he barely managed to swing his own sword before it was brought down again. As the head fell off the zombie and onto the ground, so did the gold sword. His own sword clattered to his feet as he instinctively clutched his wound and spat out a mouthful of blood. 

Red flowed steadily from his abdomen and he bit his tongue to keep from crying out. He pressed his arms harder over his stomach. He needed to get to the hut. He needed to get to Riley and Ben. They’d know what to do, right? They always knew a lot more than he did. They taught him a lot of stuff. Maybe they could help him. He glanced down at his wound. Yeah, it seems he needs help right now. 

The enderman hybrid took in a shuddering breath, holding onto his fragile hope and ignoring logic, and slowly dragged his feet over to the dirt structure in the distance. He didn’t even have the energy to teleport, no matter how much faster it would be. 

Every step felt like lightning bolts rocketing through his body and like he had been stabbed again in his stomach. It was agony. But he had to keep moving. If he kept moving, he wouldn't have to respawn. Not respawning sounds very nice. 

Ben would bandage his wounds and scold him while Riley sat on the roof or some other tall place and keep watch, making sure they weren’t ambushed while he was down. It was a system they had in place when they were in the hardcore world. They hadn’t needed to test it out in this world, but hey, maybe a good test would sharpen their skills. Not running for their lives every day had certainly made them a bit more lenient when it came to the procedures they followed back then. 

He almost tripped over his own feet as he finally came to the wall of the hut, but he slammed his arm against the wall and used it to drag himself forward. Just a little bit longer.

The door was harder to open than he would like to admit, but he was also gravely injured so he would like to think it gave him a pass. Blood made his hand slick and he kept just not grabbing the handle of the door. It was oddly irritating. 

Carter finally got the door open just as he felt his legs go out from under him, having felt like jelly for a while and not being able to lean on the door as he struggled to open it greatly hindered his ability to stand. He went crashing to the ground as his eyesight went blurry.

Was this what his mother felt like when she was kidnapped? Was she this scared?

He didn’t even feel scared. At least, not anymore. Everything was all numb. He’s pretty sure his stomach should be hurting right now, after all, it was still steadily pouring blood, but it all felt muffled. Even the screams of his friends felt muffled. Did someone stuff wool into his ears? That was terribly rude of them. Maybe it was a prank. 

Yeah, a prank. He’d have to talk to Riley and Ben.

Riley and Ben…

Riley...and...Ben

Riley…...Ben…….

…..

…

..

.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


..?

….he’s tired. 

Everything hurts.

His head is throbbing.

There’s voices.

There’s something warm draped around his shoulders.

A blanket? Why was there a blanket on him? He rarely slept. He rarely got in bed. Why did he have a blanket on?

He slowly peeled his eyes open and looked around. Riley was sitting next to him in a wooden chair they had been gathering materials to craft for just this morning. 

Wait, this morning? How was the chair made?

“Riley?” he croaked, his voice dry. Riley yawned before jolting forward with wide eyes.

“Ben!” they called, not taking their eyes off him like they were afraid he might disappear. He wasn’t planning to. “Ben, get your ass over here!”

“What happened?” he asked, sitting up in bed. Ben came rushing into the room and skidded to a stop right next to Riley, looking equally as panicked and somehow relieved. 

“You died, dude,” Riley laughed, their voice strained. “Like- straight up died in my arms. You respawned or somethin’.”

He blinked and closed his eyes, his head cloudy from the pain. “Respawning sucks.”

His friends laughed at him.

He fell back asleep. 


	4. riley is weak to snow

“How likely is it that Riley dies if they go out there?” Carter asked, peering outside their window at the swirling snow storm outside. It had started snowing only around thirty minutes ago and was on the edge of being a blizzard. They weren’t that worried, though, being snowed in wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world and it wasn’t like their house would crumble under the snow. At least, they hoped it wouldn’t.

No, they had enough food to last at least two weeks so the only thing they had to do was avoid the snow. Considering that all of them hate both water and the cold from their hybrid traits, it wasn’t too much of a struggle to convince them to stay inside. 

“Like, respawn die or just die inside?” called Ben, his voice coming from the kitchen. He was probably hovering next to the furnace based on how his voice wobbled slightly. Carter would probably join him later. 

“Both.”

“They’d last ten minutes at most.”

Carter considered that then turned his attention back to the snow outside. He could barely see the tree that sat next to their house. How long would this storm last? A couple hours? A day? A week? It was a gamble, really. 

He heard footsteps and eventually Ben stood next to him, a look of awe on his face. 

“It’s beautiful,” Ben whispered.

“It’s eh,” Carter replied, turning away with a frown. It wasn’t beautiful. Not at all. It was all bright and plain and white and distinctly not familiar, and he hated it. He hated the snow. He also hated the rain, but at least he could pull his hood up or something. Snow got everywhere and as soon as it started snowing you were fucked over. Not to mention that when it melts, it's wet everywhere. He hated water. So, by proxy, he hated the snow. Maybe just a little more than rain. 

“I’m not going outside,” Riley said, glaring at the two of them from their position on the couch. They were reading a worn-out book they had nabbed from an abandoned village nearby. The leather was rough with age and the pages were torn and falling apart. Carter had no idea how they could even read the words on the stained pages. 

“What if I paid you five gold ingots?” Ben smirked. 

Riley turned their glare to him. “We share all our money, idiot. I’m not stupid, I know that if I go outside I’ll die.”

“Death by a snowball fight, what a way to go,” Carter whistled to himself. 

Because it was true and Riley knew it. On a line, the three of them were closer to being a mob than a human. It was like a spectrum: on the far right it was basically full human and on the far left it was basically full mob. Most hybrids fell somewhere in the middle, but some fell farther right or left than others. Riley, Ben, and Carter all fell more towards the mob end. 

Riley acted more blaze than human sometimes, and it was easy to see. They were terrified of the snow. They often sat near the oven because they enjoyed the warmth. They ache to fly. They enjoyed fire and lava more than the rest of them. 

Ben acted more magma cube than human sometimes, and it was easy to see. He was hostile to people. He got incredibly focused on one thing. He leaped off tall structures with no hesitation. He enjoyed mining because of how close he could get to lava without sinking in. 

Carter acted more enderman than human sometimes, and it was easy to see. He couldn’t look anyone in the eyes, even mobs. He loved the feeling of teleporting. He hated water with a burning passion. He enjoyed stealing blocks from others just for the thrill of it being _his_. 

So, if, for example, Riley was hit by a snowball, they probably wouldn’t die immediately, but just like the blaze they got their DNA from, it would hurt them considerably. 

Ben snapped him out of his thoughts by stretching and walking over to Riley. “You’re boring,” he said as he sat down next to them. “You’re so boring that you’re boring me. Live a little.”

“I’m pretty sure that they wouldn’t be able to live a little if they went out into a blizzard,” Carter chuckled. “I mean, maybe, but we’ll never know. Better safe than sorry, right?”

“Right,” Riley agreed firmly. Ben raised an eyebrow at Carter. The two of them waited. Riley shifted uncomfortably in their seat. Another minute passed. The blaze hybrid narrowed their eyes. Carter counted the seconds under his breath. 

They caved at the six minute and twenty seven second mark. Riley stood up abruptly as Carter quietly cheered and walked to the door. 

“Just for a moment,” they told them. “Just to prove you guys wrong.”

“Prove us wrong?” Ben repeated. “As in, you’ll die or you’ll live?”

“I can survive a little snow,” huffed Riley, crossing their arms and scowling at the doorknob. Carter watched their interaction with a sort of fascination like he was watching two llamas spit at each other. 

“Can you?” Ben challenged. He was pushing them over the edge, poking and prodding in a way only he knew how. While they were Carter’s friends, they were also each other’s best friends. They knew when to push and pull, when to let go off the rope and when to tug. It was like an elaborate dance he was only allowed to observe and never participate in. 

It was a complicated art and he didn’t even have the pencil to sketch it out. 

“I can,” Riley snapped. And there, there was the edge. The was the line that Ben oh so carefully toed and successfully stepped over. He knew that Ben saw it too by the triumphant grin on his face. 

Oreo and Bucky, who had been lounging around on the couch, bolted away as soon as Riley’s hand touched the doorknob as if they knew what was coming. Carter and Ben watched them slowly turn the doorknob. 

A blast of cold air hit their faces and all three spluttered, jumping back. Riley gritted their teeth and stepped outside, slamming the door shut behind them. 

“You good?” Carter shouted, hoping they could hear him through the rushing wind and through the birch wood and cobblestone that made up their house. 

Silence. 

“Riley?” He tried again.

Silence. 

Then, his communicator buzzed. 

The communicator was one Riley’s mother had given the three of them when they were escaping the king’s castle. They had run into her mid escape attempt and she had whispered to Riley before shoving the communicators into their hands and sending them off, towards the portal that only the most knowledgeable had heard of. Apparently, everyone got one at one point in their life. It was created when they spawned. Hybrids had theirs taken away as children, but Riley’s mother had managed to find and snag theirs. 

The communicator was used to communicate over long distances or quietly. It also relayed death messages which was helpful in this world where death wasn’t permanent. And they could also _see_ the death messages. 

It had come in handy the one time Ben had died a long way from their house and they were able to prepare ahead of time for his respawn. 

So, when his communicator died, he really hoped it was Riley yelling at them and not the message that she had frozen to death because of their stupid bet. 

He took a deep breath and took his communicator out…

Riley: _LET ME IN ITS COLD OUT HERE HSJKDSINDIJD_

Okay, just Riley screaming. 

Ben started laughing loudly as Carter opened the door and Riley rushed in, covered in snow and shivering violently. 

“I hate both of you!” they glared and curled into themself, trying to warm themself up. Ben wheezed and fell off the couch. Carter giggled. 

They ended up earning their forgiveness by making a huge blanket fort and cuddling with the cats who hissed and clawed at them, everyone ignoring the snowstorm outside. And if Riley caught a cold the next day, well, that was their problem, not theirs.

(It did end up being their problem, though, seeing as both Ben and Carter fell sick within the same week and spent the entire time being miserable with Riley.)


	5. uh oh angst

It’s times like these he wishes he could rewind time. Where he could make a mistake but then fix it. It’s a silly wish, he knows, and entirely unrealistic. He was never much of a person for hope, more realistic than anything. Riley liked to joke that he was a pessimist at heart and he can’t say he disagrees, but this one wish makes him feel entirely too optimistic. He knows better than to hope. He knows better than to assume the best outcome because the moment he allows himself to entertain the best scenario, he loses his grip on reality. He _can’t_ lose his grip on reality. 

So, pushing that silly hope and optimism aside, he knew that it was going to happen eventually. Kids make mistakes. And that’s the problem: they’re kids. For how smart all of them were - and they were smart, don’t get him wrong, they couldn’t survive this long in a hostile environment without being as smart as they were - they were still children. Riley was the youngest, being only thirteen.

(He’ll never admit this, but he always thought of himself as the youngest. He’s both smaller and more naive than the two of them. It didn’t matter that when they were stuck in King Gabryell’s castle, he got the special attention for allegedly being heir to the throne. It didn’t matter that because he was born first, his father died first. Riley and Ben felt like the older siblings he never had and that was good enough for him.)

So, they made a dumb mistake. And it really was dumb, too. Ben had jokingly destroyed Riley’s bed and they were all too lazy to rebuild it again, forgetting about the broken bed until Riley died in their arms and didn’t respawn. 

The three of them had gotten more used to respawning by now and didn’t worry as much as they used to, and maybe that was the problem. Half a year ago if Riley’s bed had broken they would’ve repaired immediately in fear of the exact problem they’re facing right now. 

Ben had fallen to his knees at the sight of the ruined bed while Carter simply stood still, feeling cold dread build up in his chest and throat until it felt like he couldn’t breathe. Tears pricked at his eyes. 

He had never experienced this feeling before. Back in the cell, it was white hot fury mixed with numb acceptance and the occasional heavy sorrow. Nothing like the icy claws that gripped his lungs. 

“Oh god,” Ben whispered, reaching a trembling hand forward and picking up a piece of discarded wood. He was shaking like a leaf at this point, Carter realized vaguely. “Oh god, what do we do?”

He turned and faced Carter, horror in his eyes. “What _did_ we do?”

The enderman hybrid opened his mouth but couldn’t get any words out, instead looking down at the ground. His knees felt like jelly and he felt sick. What had they done? Just a joke, just a prank, and now their friend was gone. Permanently? Most likely. 

He chose to quietly sit down before he threw up just from standing. He couldn’t even see the pieces of the bed anymore from how much his vision was blurring. Awful, traitorous acceptance filled him. All he could think was: _they’re_ _gone. They’re gone. They’re gone. There’s nothing we can do, they’re gone._

It repeated in his head like a broken disc. He felt like he was floating. Something in the back of his mind thrashed violently, telling him to cry or scream or do something. To fight against the universe and drag them back. To beg because Riley deserved so much and they didn’t deserve this. But that voice was drowned out by the heavy fog that clouded his thoughts, the same fog from back in the cell. 

The cell. 

That’s what this felt like. Everything was too cold and empty and alone, even though Ben’s right next to him, crying and screaming and trying to do something against the cruel system that took his best friend away. No, all he could see was the stone that lined the walls and the steel bars and the body of his mother. 

It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair at all. How could they survive the hardcore world only to permantely die in the survival one? How could they beat death in the one world where you only get one chance but surrender so easily in the world where death was practically meaningless? How could the universe taunt them like this, holding their happy ending in front of their faces yet just out of reach? He had been separated from his friends in the cell and now he was separated from them in this new world where everything had been fun and happy because they weren’t getting chased by hunters at every step. 

Life isn’t fair. He knew this. He knew this because his mother had told it to him; Riley and Ben had taught it to him. They had told him that life wasn’t fair when they got chased out of a village just for being hybrids, just for existing. When he had asked Riley why he needed to wear his mask everywhere, they had frowned and messed with their overalls, staring off into the distance like what they were about to tell him was a big secret that only he knew. 

“We were born a certain way,” they had told him, more seriously than he had ever seen them. “We were born a certain way and a lot of people don’t like us for that.”

He had frowned and tilted his head, making a questioning noise. His human still hadn’t been good at the time. 

“We’re part mob, right? Well, a lot of people think that because we’re part mob that we can’t think. We’re as brainless as our mom or dad. Of course, that isn’t true because even our mob parents can think, but humans generally don’t like being told they’re wrong.”

And that was that. Riley had grinned and made a funny joke he couldn’t quite remember before they headed away from the cliff edge they were sitting on and back to the camp. 

But he wants life to be fair. He wants people to like him despite half of his face being the same colour as endermen’s skin. He wants people to like Ben and Riley despite their obvious mob traits. He wants Riley to respawn despite their broken bed. He wants life to see how unfair it is and fix itself because he can’t live like this. He can’t live with no Riley. 

“We need to save them,” he said to Ben, finally looking up. The magma cube hybrid was curled up next to him and staring brokenly at the wall, seemingly lost in his thoughts just as Carter had been. 

“How? They’re dead, CJ, we can’t _save_ them.”

He’s not optimistic. He’s realistic and maybe a little bit of a pessimist. But just because he doesn’t allow himself to unreasonably hope for something that’ll never come true or see the best in people doesn’t mean he isn’t determined or willing to work for the things he wants, the things he needs. He was more determined than anything, all of them were.

It hurt, just a little bit (a lot, it hurt so much), to see Ben completely defeated. To see Ben ready to give up almost immediately. Ben had been the one to push them forward when times got rough, he had been the one to cheer them up with Carter’s world view was just a little too sour and Riley was too tired to be the emotional support they usually were. 

But all three of them had that core determination that allowed them to survive so much. All of them had that will to continue on. And he knew that Ben’s will and core were still there, just shrouded by devastation and sadness. 

Carter might just be in denial. He could be chasing after a ridiculous fantasy that doesn’t exist, but something deep inside his bones tells him that something isn’t right. That Riley can’t be dead. Not because he needs them, no, but because it doesn’t work with how this world works.

The whole point of survival worlds were that nobody could permanently die. How could life suddenly break it’s fundamental rule just because somebody broke a bed? It didn’t make sense.

It’s not hope that fills his chest, but something else he can’t quite name. All he knows is that if the universe doesn’t wanna play by it’s rules then he won’t, either. He’ll drag Riley back, even if they want to stay wherever they are. He’ll rescue his friend. 

Ben must see the light that's suddenly returned to his eyes and he sits up straighter, a look of interest on his face. He knows that Carter has thought of something. And Carter knows that no matter how flawed his logic is, Ben will follow him to the ends of the earth. Ben would go back to the old world if he went. Ben would do anything to save him, to save Riley. As long as there's the idea that they could get them back, he and Ben will chase after it, no matter where it leads to, no matter how dangerous it is.

Because they’re reckless kids. They’re smart, but reckless kids. And while Carter might not have the power to rewind time, he doubts anyone has, he can keep going and take a step a second, journeying to find his lost (because they’re not dead, it doesn’t make sense for them to be dead) friend. 

They might have made a mistake, but they’re going to fix it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> might make a part 2


End file.
